Demon's Laughter
by ghosttown
Summary: An original novel of mine. c Sherry-Lynn McCully 2008. An angel-turned-demon tries to get revenge on God.
1. Kasper

"**Kasper"**

I've always hated being on patrol. We're sent down to Earth, basically to baby-sit demons who're allowed out every once in a while. It's because Lucifer can't control them for himself; so he relies on us, minions of God, to watch over them while they're on Earth. It's not like we have a choice, either. It's an ancient pact between God and Lucifer; angels watch over demons, demons do their best not to turn an angel into a demon.

As stupid as demons may be, they do have that one, dangerous power. It's their laughter. If a demon utters the slightest chuckle within a five-foot radius of an angel, that very laughter can cause the angel to lose faith in God. It has happened once or twice, but it's rare, which is why God keeps up his end of the deal and sends us down here into human territory.

As I'm walking, I suddenly find myself lost in a crowd of the demons. Filthy. Their pit-grime (pit-grime is what angels call the sin that the demons are soaked with when they come up from the Pit, which is another word for Hell) is staining my robes, getting on my wings. I hate it. However, rescue is not far away; another, higher-ranked demon approaches me, scattering the weaklings. He begins to speak.

"Sorry about them. They can't seem to leave the Watchers alone," he says. Demons call us angels 'Watchers' for obvious reasons. We watch them.

I vaguely recall a faceless (at least in the memory), higher-ranked demon telling me once never to speak to a demon, no matter how high their rank, no matter how little pit-grime they seem to be soaked with. It must slip my mind, because I'm already speaking. I say, "I appreciate your help, demon."

He arches a brow and watches me carefully. I suppose he didn't expect me to respond to him. "Well, Watcher," he says as the shock of my angel's voice wears off, "I have a name, and I'm sure you do as well. Let's trade." I don't quite understand why he's talking, don't understand why he wants to know my name or tell me his. It's quite unlikely we'll ever see each other after this meeting.

I tell him my name anyway. "Kasper," I say in my soft, quiet angel's voice. I'm watching him with my unusually (for an angel) violet eyes (most angels have blue). He's a typical demon for his rank. Long black hair, blood red eyes. He's sort of the image of stereotype.

The beautiful sound hits my ears. It's a sound like bells; intoxicating. I don't ever want it to stop, it's so lovely. It's…laughter. Coming from the demon standing before me. The danger sets in, and I try and plug my ears, back away, but it's too late. I can feel God's presence being wrenched away from me as though my heart is being torn in two. Irreparable damage. I can hear his voice through the laughter. It seems distant. "Casper? As in Casper the Friendly Ghost?" he's asking.

I grit my teeth and answer him angrily. People have always made fun of my name. Ever since that wretched human movie came out. "Kasper with a K," I hiss through the pain, through the agony. Through the rage. Rage at being laughed at, rage at the fact that the laughter is coming from a demon. He's laughing at my name -- laughing away my faith in my one and only Savior.

Too late, he realizes that he's laughing at an angel, not one of his grimy friends from the Pit. He stops, backs away. But it's too late. I shake my head, trying to let him know that it doesn't matter, it's too late. Trying to tell him that I'm doomed to a life of exile, never gaining the right of passage to Paradise again. The thought only makes my rage grow.

My violet eyes turn to the heavens. The empty heavens. My Savior has deserted me, abandoned me, left me to rot in the depths of Hell for eternity. An idea is forming in my mind; a plan coming to completion. Revenge. Vengeance against my very own traitorous Savior. He has left me, left me with no way back in, no way to escape. I am alone. I am alone and full of vengeance. My former God will get what's coming to him.


	2. Joshua

"**Joshua"**

My heart still aches for God's presence as the demon tries to explain to me that he didn't mean to laugh, that it was an accident.

"I know," I say in my calming voice, trying to get the poor thing to relax. "It will be okay, just… Let me stay close to you. Help me find a way back."

"A way back to where?" he asks. I have to stop myself from laughing. Where else would I be going back to? Demons can certainly be very stupid at times.

"Heaven," I respond. "My God, my Savior, has abandoned me simply because I heard your laughter. I want to get revenge on Him for abandoning me so easily." I remember just a few hours ago when I'd thought the demons simply made you lose faith. Now I see the truth. God is the backstabber, He is the one that betrayed me, and I can't see how I ever had faith in the traitorous deity.

"Revenge…? On God…?" he's asking, stunned. The demon thinks that I'm out of my skull, I just know it. Truth be told, I'm beginning to think that as well. But my very soul is burning for revenge: God must pay for what He's done.

I simply nod. For a long, awkward moment there is simply silence. Finally, I say, "You never did tell me your name. If I want to make you my comrade, I should obviously know your name."

I'm beginning to sound strange, at least to myself. That vengeance burning deep within my heart is beginning to show in my voice.

It isn't hard to convince the demon, whose name is Joshua, to join me in my cause. He's got an evil soul; he's willing to join me in my not-so-holy crusade against God.

"Joshua," I start asking, "can you fly?" I know some higher-ranked demons can fly, but I'm not sure Joshua can. If he can, his wings are concealed. My wings are constantly out in the open. It's extremely uncomfortable to conceal them.

"Yes, I can," replies Joshua. "Why?" He's revealing his wings now. Demon wings are very different from angel wings, although just as beautiful, in their own way. Angels have light, white, feathery wings that are soft to the touch, like a dove's. Demon wings are leathery, black and slightly sticky to the touch like a bat's.

"Well, we'll have to fly to the Gates, won't we?" I respond, referring to the Gates of Heaven. There's an uncharacteristic smirk playing across my lips, and I don't know where it came from. "Besides, I want to search for a sort of headquarters… A place to hide, in the humans' world."

Suddenly, an idea strikes me. What if we could recruit other demons? Of course, recruiting other angels would be a no-go. But demons are evil. Perfect foot soldiers for an unholy crusade.

He's nodding his agreement at the headquarters idea as I say, "Do you know any other demons who might be interested in joining the cause? I want to start a crusade against Him…" A plan begins forming in my mind.

Joshua thinks for a moment, looking down and spacing out. I can tell he's running through a mental list of demons. I just watch; that's all I can do right now. I'm wondering how many demons we would need to bring my plan to fruition.

"I can think of seven, off the top of my head," he says finally. "But from there, we can get a lot more. At least twenty." As he's saying this, my mind is reeling. I decide to hope for ten, although we'll probably get a lot more than that.

"Thank you, Joshua. We should probably look for a headquarters first… Unless, of course, you think we should go to the Pit. It's up to you." Usually I don't leave decisions to others… Although I think I know why I'm leaving this one to him. Joshua is the one who made me see the truth. Joshua is my _new _Savior.


	3. The Headquarters

"**The Headquarters"**

Joshua thinks we should find a base first. I agree. We set off, flying high up in the clouds but low enough to see the ground. As we're flying, we talk about anything and everything, while still pointing at possible headquarters and turning most things down. I think we're becoming friends, Joshua and I. I used to think that the only friend I needed was God, although it turns out that even He wasn't my true friend. Despite his being a demon, Joshua and I really hit it off.

Somewhere above what the humans call Ireland, we see an abandoned church. It's so ironically perfect that I simply have to point and swoop down. I land lightly on my feet, wings fluttering a bit. Joshua lands more harshly, dirty combat boots making a hard _thud _as he lands, kicking up a cloud of dirt. "Are you serious? An abandoned church?" he asks, and I nod. "How fitting," he quips.

"Fitting indeed," I reply. "Are you coming or what?" I ask, bare feet carrying me inside. I can tell it was once a nice church; a perfect House of God. Now, it's just a dirty building with pews and broken crosses. It used to be mostly white, but now it's a nicotine-stain yellow. Joshua enters not long after me. "With a little work, it'll be good as new," I say, looking up at the high ceiling.

Joshua comes up next to me, but I'm lost in thought and it startles me. I jump. He just laughs, and I laugh along with him. He can now laugh freely, and I'm glad he can. His hell's-bells laughter soothes me the way my voice can soothe others. "It will indeed take some work," he's saying, "but I think we can have it good as new by dawn."

"Yes," I say with a smile. "But how do we want it to look? Should we just clean it up or magic it up a bit to look different?" I ask. I quietly await his answer, hoping that he'll just want to clean it up.

"We can just clean it up a bit," he says, to my delight. "But we will have to add some things. It's sort of drab right now." He's looking around, considering, thinking, planning.

I nod. "My thoughts exactly." A small smile takes over my lips. I never thought I could be so much like a demon, but here he is, and we have so much in common.

We set to work cleaning, which doesn't take more than three hours with our powers and a little elbow grease. I want to add some crosses, and Joshua thinks that's a good idea, as long as they're upside-down. I laugh at the human stereotype, and so does he.

Joshua lets me think about the cross as he adds some copies of artwork as murals on the walls. The Last Supper is on the left wall, and something I've never seen on the right. He paints the pews black, contrasting the white domed ceiling and floor.

Finally, I decide. I tell him my idea, and we have to combine our powers to do it. We add a huge onyx cross at the front of the church, just behind the priest's podium on the altar. We add diamonds around the edges and a large ruby at each of the four points. It's beautiful, but exhausting. Creating so many gemstones and something so big has worn us both out. The sun is coming up, it's dawn.

We decide to sleep in our new HQ for the day and go to the Pit tonight. The first trickles of godless sunlight from the heavens enter the stained-glass windows as we crawl into pews to rest. It was a strange night for me… The sleep is welcome.


	4. Violet Eyes

"**Violet Eyes"**

Dusk is falling as I open my violet eyes. It's not like me to sleep for a full twelve hours, but having used my powers to such an extent this morning, I suppose it's normal. I sit up, looking to the pew in front of me for Joshua. He's not there. He must already be awake.

I stand, the feeling of the cold tile floor on my bare feet sending a chill up my spine. I wander outside. With still no sign of Joshua, I start up a hill next to the church -- our new headquarters. The hill is covered with green grass and clovers, and it doesn't take me long to reach the summit.

It's from there that I spot Joshua, his thin frame heading up the opposite side of the hill. He's holding something, but I can't see what it is from here. He's progressing up the hill rather slowly, taking his time, so I start down to meet him.

When he notices me coming down the hill, he quickens his pace to meet mine. I'm about a quarter of the way down the hill when I reach him. Joshua's presence fills my heart the way God's used to. Together, we start walking back up the hill.

"Morning. Or should I say, evening, sleepy head?" He smiles. "Did you sleep well?"

I nod. "How long have you been awake?" I ask, simply curious. I try to catch a glimpse of what's In his hand, but he's hiding it well.

"An hour, give or take," he says with a shrug. He sees me eyeing whatever it is that's in his hand and he holds it out. "I almost forgot," he says.

They're flowers. Little purple flowers, the same exact shade as my eyes. Violets. I've never heard of a demon picking flowers before, but up until I met Joshua, I never took much interest in the affairs of demons. "Violets?" I ask. "Whatever for?"

He begins laughing, that beautiful hell's-bells laughter that puts me into a state of ecstasy. With that gorgeous sound still resonating in my ears, he says, "For you, idiot. I was walking and I saw them. I thought you might like them."

I'm the one doing the laughing now. "Kindness, from a demon?" I ask, amused. "This must be a first." He's just watching me as though I'm crazy, though.

"Demons aren't heartless, Kasper," he says, shrugging again. "Just evil." And then he flashes one of his not-so-innocent smirks.

I smile. "Well, thank you, in any case." I begin braiding the little flowers together deftly as we walk, creating a bracelet from the flowers. I wrap it around my wrist.

Joshua laughs again. "It matches your eyes," he says, and he's staring right into them. "Violet eyes."


End file.
